Book Review: Phantom by Susan Kay

HELLO ALL!

It's been a while. If we're going to be honest here, I've been crazy bogged down with school. It's online classes but holy shit there is a ton of reading and work and I haven't had time to read. Add that to an ever expanding obsession with KDramas and people that feed that obsession and I am just short on time for everything.

But I'm back! At least for now. And I have a book review!

Phantom by Susan Kay has been a favorite of mine for a really long time. I first got hooked on Phantom of the Opera stuff in high school. I watched the movie with Gerard Butler, I read the original novel by Gaston Leroux and I found this book. Then, in college among moving stuff from dorm to home and back again, I lost my copy of it! It's probably still floating around somewhere but I bought a new copy and I'm so thrilled that I was able to read it again.

Phantom really delves into the mind of the Phantom, Erik. He isn't just a mindless psychopath living in the basement, praying on young women. He has motivation. He has his arrogance. He is brilliant and so broken in this. Every aspect of his adolescence is so twisted, from his mother refusing to give him any warmth to his imprisonment in the gypsy camp to losing the one man who he could call a father figure. You begin to understand how he became the way that he did.

God, this book hit me so hard in the heart the first time I read it. It's so dark. It's so hopeless in many ways. You see someone suffering for how they look, despite their amazing mind and you wonder what would have happened if he had had love as a child instead of fear and scorn.

“I am not forsaken! I'm no longer alone in the darkness! Before my eyes I see a thousand little devils lighting black candles along the path which leads toward the edge...the blindingly beautiful edge.”

The secondary characters are remarkably well built as well. I hated his mother, Madeleine but you can understand her fear. In that time, Erik would have been seen as an abomination. There would be no place for him in society because of his image and you desperately hope that wouldn't be the case now. She was scared of this child that had so much intelligence but was hampered by her revulsion towards him. She was a young mother whose husband just died and she saw Erik as a curse. I can't imagine.

And then the Daroga. And the architect in Italy. Where he had once had hope and friendship, he managed to lose it all. I feel like throughout the book, up until he meets Christine, Erik strives to be a better person but his situation in life turns him into the sadistic person that he is.

“My mind has touched the farthest horizons of mortal imagination and reaches ever outward to embrace infinity. There is no knowledge beyond my comprehension, no art or skill upon this entire planet that lies beyond the mastery of my hand. And yet, like Faust, I look in vain, I learn in vain. . . . For as long as I live, no woman will ever look on me in love.”

My biggest fault with this book is the last ten to fifteen percent. The last little bit where he finally meets Christine and succumbs to the madness that he has been fighting for so long.

“She wanted an Angel of Music . . . an angel who would make her believe in herself at last. I'd been the Angel of Doom for the khanum. There was no reason in the world why I could not be the Angel of Music for Christine. I couldn't hope to be a man to her, I couldn't ever be a real, breathing, living man waking at her side and reaching out for her . . . But I could be her angel"

I hated Christine. She follows blindly and doesn't question anything. Lamb to the slaughter. And I'm not saying that she was supposed to be more worldly since she was only 20 and had hardly experienced any of the world but I wanted her to have more doubt than she did. Erik loved the idea of her more than anything else and she knew it. She couldn't make decisions on her own except on the occasions of threats against her or others. She ruined Erik's character for me since he had been so resolute and strong for most of the book but finally crumbles under an obsession.

But I guess that's the point of it all. He is supposed to lose it. Erik finally relinquishes control of his mind and basically damns himself. It's all so sad and terrible and that's why I love this book.

If you haven't read this book, you need to. It is such a beautiful supplement to the story that most are familiar with and it only enhances the musical and the original book. Seriously, go get it. Now. Do it. It's wonderful.

I promise I will get back to regular posting and reading other blogs. I've just been so busy it's ridiculous! Take pity on me and don't forget about me! I'm still around. I'm just lurking.

Book Review: The Other Side of Envy by C.L. Stone

This is my shameful series. The one I don't talk about to my friends (except for the other fangirls). The books you hide under your mattress but you can't put away completely. This series is a guilty pleasure that I can't step away from because I have to know what happens next ohmygod. I admit that this isn't the finest of literature but if you want a fun and dramatic read with a fair amount of suspense, The Ghost Bird series may be worth a shot. Just don't blame me when you become obsessed with reverse harems. Usually, when I talk about these books, there is a long warning at the beginning of my post. 

I sat and thought a lot about this book. It has taken me a few days to be ready to review it and it slipped from a 5 star OMG fangirl book to a 3.5. Trust me, I have my reasons.

Because let's be honest here. Nothing really happened in this book.

The best way to look at these books is as if you're watching a TV show. There are episodes that are action packed and you're constantly trying to keep up with what is going on throughout them. There are car chases and wild rescues and face to face conflicts. Then there are the episodes in between that support the craziness of the other episodes. They are quiet and are filled with the details of day-to-day life that you miss sometimes. There is character development but it isn't thrilling.

This was not an action packed book like the others. There is a fair amount of people spending time with each other and learning secrets and strategies. It wasn't boring by any means but it still makes you feel like you are missing something.

That being said...

There is a lot to fangirl about in this one.

Gabriel...Just Gabriel.

He's a hard character to understand sometimes. I feel like a lot of the time, he comes off a bit as a sassy diva type character and he's hard to take seriously.

He's creative and wants everything in his world to be beautiful. That's why he paints his walls and dresses up Sang. It's why he shops for everyone and fusses like he does. The only beauty in his life is his team and they keep him sane. But it's hard to keep up with the guys and Gabriel definitely has his weaknesses.

And I loved that this book exposed that in him. He isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Like the rest of the guys, he has his scars and this book allows Sang to explore that and help him in some ways.

Victor and Sang's relationship gets the chance to grow stronger in this book since we didn't see a lot of him in the last one but also, we get to see more of Dr. Sean Green. Which is awesome since it is breaking down that barrier between student and teacher in a real way. I love that all of the guys are struggling to hold themselves back from her as if they are scared of what they will do and how she will react. But I honestly wish they would stop treating her like she will break at any second. Luke is the only one with that kind of confidence in her and that's a bit heartbreaking.

As far as the plot goes, not much happens in this book. Volto doesn't crop back up really and while the whole phone tag thing is going on, it takes a back seat to the relationships. There's a lot of playing hot potato with Sang and you get this feeling that she's getting a bit sick of it. When will this girl get a driver's license? Seriously. This is ridiculous. The girl obviously needs to learn how to drive but she doesn't have a valid birth certificate or social security number so who knows how they will accomplish that.

So since we all know where this is going for her, does anybody else wonder about how all of these guys are going to live together with her? I don't care who you are, fitting 10 people in a house with all separate rooms is going to be difficult.

I keep imagining this as their nightly routine:

Kiss one, kiss them all, say goodnight, retreat to rooms until one of the guys decides to make a move on her. When will this girl assert herself in a real way? It's driving me crazy. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, these books are not about a strong female character. It reminds me of animes that have been created from otome games where the guys go through all of the action and the girl just follows along. The only difference is that in those animes, they try to develop the female character a bit better.

Sang seems to have lost a lot of her personality in this book so that's another reason why I downgraded it. Before, she was a little bit spunky and was developing an attitude but in this one, she just follows them around. If it weren't such a fun and ridiculous story line, Sang would make me one star these books. You read them for the guys, not her.

In conclusion, these books are a soap opera. Action happens in some episodes, in others it doesn't. This is one of those where you learn about all of the plotting and wait for the next book where everything comes to fruition. It's frustrating, but that's what this series is about.

I'm still a fangirl and I am still waiting on the next book. I obviously have problems.

I've warned people off these books before so I ask cautiously, had anybody else read them? Any other fangirls out there? Can somebody hear me?